1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate in general to an inter-cell interference control method and apparatus and more specifically to an inter-cell interference control method and apparatus which may control inter-cell interference in a communication network environment including a plurality of cells.
2. Related Art
A small cell environment may refer to an environment in which a size of a cell operated by a single base station is about 10 cm to 20 cm, and as representative examples of the small cell, a femtocell, a picocell, and the like may be given. Backhaul of a fixed small cell generally includes an Internet network, and the fixed small cell may connect to a core network through the Internet network. When making a backhaul part of such a small cell wireless (for example, using an existing cellular network instead of the Internet network), services through the small cell may be provided within a moving object such as a train or a bus.
Interference control may refer to control technology for avoiding or minimizing interference which occurs when mutually different cells use the same resources (that is, frequency resources or time resources). As scenarios in which inter-cell interference occurs in a communication network environment in which macro cells and fixed small cells are mixed, interference between a macro cell and a fixed small cell, interference between a single fixed small cell and an adjacent fixed small cell, and the like may be given. In such a communication network environment, since the cell hardly moves once installed, the target of interference is the same, and therefore interference may be controlled based on the same inter-cell interference information.
On the other hand, as scenarios in which inter-cell interference occurs in a communication network environment in which macro cells and mobile small cells are mixed, interference between a macro cell and a mobile small cell, interference between a mobile small cell and an adjacent fixed small cell, interference between a mobile small cell positioned in a single moving object and a mobile small cell positioned in another moving object, and the like may be given. In such a communication network environment, the position of the mobile small cell is constantly changed, and therefore the target of interference is changed each time. As a result, there are demands for inter-cell interference control technologies different from existing inter-cell interference control technologies.
That is, the inter-cell interference control technologies in the conventional communication network environment are technologies which control inter-cell interference under the assumption that the small cell does not move, and therefore inter-cell interference that occurs due to the mobile small cell may not be efficiently controlled.